


Hollywood Runaways

by Slytherwitch



Category: Percy Jackson and the Olympians & Related Fandoms - All Media Types
Genre: AU, Alternate Universe, Pre-Canon, Pre-The Lightning Thief (Percy Jackson), Runaway
Language: English
Status: Completed
Published: 2021-01-26
Updated: 2021-02-06
Packaged: 2021-03-18 14:07:38
Rating: General Audiences
Warnings: Major Character Death
Chapters: 4
Words: 2,352
Publisher: archiveofourown.org
Story URL: https://archiveofourown.org/works/28993431
Author URL: https://archiveofourown.org/users/Slytherwitch/pseuds/Slytherwitch
Summary: Thalia knows that Beryl killed Jason. And she isn't going to let her kill Piper too.
Relationships: Annabeth Chase & Piper McLean, Beryl Grace/Tristan McLean, Luke Castellan & Thalia Grace, Thalia Grace & Piper McLean
Comments: 8
Kudos: 15





	1. Chapter 1

#  Part One:

She is a sunset lover, walking down the boulevard. Her curled hair, golden and glittering, swirls in the wind. She dances, arm-in-arm with her lover. His long, dark hair glides in the sky. Eye-to-eye, Beryl Grace and Tristan McLean can only focus on themselves. They are in love, clearly.

It makes Thalia Grace sick to her stomach. Her mother only has eyes for the spotlight and her newest lover. Thalia remembers Jupiter; they acted the same way. She doesn’t remember her father, but Thalia’s smart enough to realize a pattern.

Piper McLean, the daughter of Tristan McLean, walks beside her. She looks a lot like her father, but is repulsed at the display of affection between the brunet and the blonde just like Thalia is. Her flat-faced features snarls into disgust as the duo are focused on themselves.

“Is it true?” Piper asks, “What they say about your mom?”

“They say a lot of things.” Thalia replies, “Gotta be more specific, kiddo.”

“That she’s the reason why your brother is dead.” Piper whispers, making sure her father and new stepmother wouldn’t hear her, “That she killed him.”

“They said she didn’t do it.” Thalia whispers back, “That it wasn’t her fault.”

“I said that I didn’t steal Stacey’s coloring book.” Piper whispers back, “Doesn’t mean I didn’t do it.”

“I like you, Piper.” Thalia laughs, “You’re funny.”

“Thanks,” she replies, “I try to be.”

Soon, they’re ushered into a separate car than their parents. A hired driver takes them home. Thalia can see out the window. She can see that their parents aren’t coming home with them; their cars head in opposite directions.

“Guess it’s just you and me tonight, Pipes.”

“That sucks.”

“Yeah, it does.”

The rest of the ride is silent. Piper falls asleep in the seat beside her, just how Jason would’ve—how he should’ve, before he died. The sun is done setting now. The once vibrant oranges and pinks have since then faded into the same color as the dark, black hair both Piper and Thalia coincidentally share.

Thalia wakes the girl up, carrying her into their house. While she isn’t Jason, she can be a respectable replacement. Not perfect, but good enough to fill in the void.

She doesn’t take Piper to her new room, like she told their driver she would. Instead, Piper is taken to Thalia’s room.

“Hey, hey!” Thalia snaps twice, grabbing her attention, “Come on and stay awake. I have a job for you.”

“I wanna sleep, Thals.” Piper whines. She’s a lot fussier than Jason was. 

“I know Pipes. I know.” She tries to soothe the young child, “but I can’t let what happened to Jason happen to you, too. It’s only a matter of time before she relapses.”

“So… she did kill him?”

“Yeah,” Thalia admits, “I think she did. And, you’re fragile. You’d die easily.”

“I’m not fragile!”

“Well then help me.” Thalia laughs at the young girl, “Grab as many clothes as possible and put them in your school bag.”

“What about schoolwork?”

“You aren’t going back to school.”

“Sweet!” Piper laughs, “I’m in!”

She scurries off to her room with unbridled energy. Thalia grabs her bag and heads towards the family safe. She types the password—Jason’s birthday, not her own—and heads towards Piper’s room.

At one time, this was Jason's room. Their mansion has seven rooms. There is no reason that Piper needed to sleep where Jason slept. It only further cemented Piper as a replacement for the young boy. The blue walls are the exact same as his eye color. The stars on the ceiling were painted for him. Though, that’s ancient history. He can’t use it anymore. He’s gone.

“Are you ready Piper?”

“Where are we going?”

“Who knows?”

“You didn’t really plan this, did you?”

“No, but I have three grand in here, so I think we’ll be alright.” Thalia grabs her hand, taking her towards the back of the house, “I won’t let anything happen to you Piper. I promise.”

===

The stars dimly glitter in the sky. Streetlights and cars light the way. Piper shivers against her leg. Thalia avoids walking near streetwalkers, careful not to be confused for them. She looks over her shoulder, making sure they aren’t followed.

Her and Piper are tired. They should’ve been long asleep by now. Even Thalia, who regularly stays awake past her bedtime, is never up this late. Using this much energy without break is exhausting. Her heart’s beating louder and louder; her grip on Piper’s hand keeps getting tighter and tighter. She has to keep going. They have to keep going.

Piper whines, “Thals, I’m tired!!! Can I please sleep?”

She looks around, they’ve made it to a semi-residential area. They’re out of the secure neighborhood they live in, but aren’t too far from it. Thalia spots a playground with a giant red slide. An idea pops in; she finally relents.

“Yes Piper, but only until sunrise.”

Thalia leads her underneath the slide. They sit on a pile of mulch. Their belongings are at arm's length of her. Piper lays her head on her lap.

“What about you, Thalia?” Piper asks, “Are you going to sleep?”

“Not yet, Pipes.” She replies, stroking the tired girl’s head, “I have to keep you safe.”

“Once I wake up, I can keep you safe.” Piper mumbles sleepily.

Thalia smiles, watching the young girl quickly drift off to sleep, “You do that, Pipes.”

She looks around, trying to memorize everything she can. The slide curves upward above her, making the taller girl fold herself forwards to be completely hidden.


	2. Chapter 2

#  Part Two:

Thalia and Piper are firmly out of California and have been for well over a month. She’s shocked at how resilient Piper’s been. Piper’s been raised in Hollywood, lived a spoiled life. She’s six now and her face is on missing kid posters throughout the western United States. Piper has helped her fight off attackers and steal people’s wallets. They burned through the three grand, but it doesn’t matter to them; they’ve been surviving.

Piper shakes Thalia awake near sunrise. They crashed into someone’s treehouse last night, but Piper’s noticed a light turn on in the family’s house.

“Thalia!” Piper grabs her shoulder, “Thalia we have to get up now!”

Thalia’s up quickly. This last month and a half has made her a light sleeper. She wipes her eyes, grabbing her bag, and heads down the rope ladder. She jumps the fence, ready to catch Piper if she needs to (she doesn’t). 

They make a sprint for it, heading into the cornfield of this Kansas farm. Thalia yanks a couple of stalks down, hoping to gather some food for them. The corn will taste better cooked, but if they don’t get the luxury, it’ll be good enough raw.

Hopping the other fence, the house is far from their field of vision. They’ve made it to safety, taking a small breather.

“How are you feeling Piper?”

“Hungry.”

“Can you wait an hour?”

“Yeah.”

Thalia lays down in the grass field they’ve found themselves in, “So I’m thinking we go into the city today and collect cash. You do your thing and pick some pockets. We got about fifty bucks, so we might be able to get a cheap motel room.”

“Are there even cities here?” Piper snorts, “It’s all nature.”

“If we don’t find a city we’ll repeat tonight.”

“I’m sleeping this time.”

“Of course.” Thalia replies, “Are you tired?”

“No, but I haven’t slept in like a day,” Piper complains, “That’s not normal for a six year old.”

“None of this is normal for a six year old.” Thalia replies, “Or a twelve year old. We’re not normal.”

“When we get caught, this’ll be a fun story to tell.”

“Don’t say that.” Thalia replies, “We’re too smart to get caught.”

“Alright.” Piper sits beside Thalia, back to the rising sun, “If we go back, this’ll be a fun story to tell.”

“Do you want to go home?”

“I’m having fun, but I can’t stay here forever, Thals.”

“Don’t think about forever.” Thalia replies, “Let’s just worry about the here and now.”

“Okay.”

“Where do you want to head?” Thalia sits up, rummaging through the bag until she grabs a paper map, “Pick any place you want. We’ll try to head there.”

Piper looks over the map. She closes her eyes and plops her finger on a random spot.

“New Jersey, huh?”

“Guess so.”

“Okay.” Thalia smiles, ruffling Piper’s head, “We’ll get you there and then see what the situation between our parents are.”

“Do you ever want to go back?” Piper sits up and leans against Thalia.

“No.” Thalia replies, “but it’s clear you do.”

Piper sighs, “I just… miss dad. Even when he wasn’t there I still knew that he was thinking of me.”

“He’s probably still thinking of you.” Thalia comforts, “He’s not like my mom. He’s a good guy,”

“But he was never home.” Piper sniffles, “I saw my nanny more than him.”

“That’s just celebrity parents for you, Pipes.” Thalia wipes away growing tears on Piper’s face, “We’ll have our own family.”

“In New Jersey?” Piper asks.

Thalia nods, “In New Jersey.”

“Alright.” Piper replies, “I’ll stay until we get to New Jersey.”

“That’s all I want, Piper.” Thalia lies, “That’s all I want.”


	3. Chapter 3

#  Part Three:

They’ve been missing for three months by the time they make it to West Virginia, bumping head first into two other demigods (literally). They’ve been trying to shake the shaggy brunet boy who pops up in every section of the wild they’ve been staying in and the double blondes—one Thalia’s age and one Piper’s age—are also running from him. 

“Ah, fuck!” Thalia exclaims, rubbing her head, “Watch where you’re going, blondie!”

“What where you’re—” Luke tightens his grip on Annabeth’s wrist, then lets it go suddenly, “Oh, its just you, Thals.”

“I told you to stop calling me that!”

Luke smirks, “Fine. I’ll just call you Miss Grace. You are her right? Man, I’ve seen your face plastered across every news channel I’ve seen in every city I’ve seen. Someone’s mommy cares about them, huh?”

“Shut up!”

“Your face is everywhere too.” Annabeth notes, prying her arm from Luke’s grasp, “Piper, is it?”

“Yeah.” She crunches her nose, “Annabeth, right?”

“And that’s Luke.”

“I remember.”

“How’s it going, on the run?”

“Good.” Piper leans against a brick wall in the beginning of the alleyway, “Anywhere you’re heading?’

“New York.” Annabeth replies, “There’s a place for people like us—supposedly.”

“Like us?”

“Like Luke and I.” Annabeth corrects, “but they might let you two in. Maybe.”

“Thals!” Piper brings her and Luke out of their bickering, “Can we go to New York? There’s a place for people like us.”

“Like Annabeth and I.” Luke corrects, “who’s to say they would allow you two.”

Annabeth comments, “It’s where Grover wants to take us.”

“Grover?” Thalia questions, “Grover Underwood? You’ve been contacted by him?”

“Have you?” Luke asks.

Piper rolls her eyes, “He keeps calling Thals the daughter of Zeus and all that jazz. It’s annoying.”

“Don’t you want to go to New Jersey, Piper?” Thalia asks, “Isn’t that where you wanted to go.”

“I have changed my mind.” Piper declares, “I want to go there, with Luke and Annabeth. They’re like me; they’re like us.”

“Alright.” Thalia sighs.

Luke smirks, “Guess you’re stuck with me, Miss Grace.”


	4. Chapter 4

#  Part Four

They eventually meet up with Grover. This time, not stopping the satyr from gathering them. Though, they probably could’ve made it there on their own just as well as he did. Because, despite all of his talk, Grover was useless at this. He was a lost, anxious mess, not truly remembering where Camp Half-Blood was.

Piper whisper whines to Annabeth, her new friend. They aren’t having a good time; neither is Thalia. Luke is all bright smiles and happy words, but it’s faked to keep the girls from getting demotivated.

“It’s around here somewhere. I know it!” Grover’s anxious positivity is perfect bait for Thalia’s sarcasm, but Luke puts a hand over her mouth, “Lead the way then!” He replies instead, not wanting to insult their navigator.

“Are you excited?” Annabeth asks, “You know, for somewhere where we belong?”

Piper doesn’t know. She’s always belonged. Her father has always loved her and Thalia welcomed her like a true big sister would. Beryl wasn’t bad, even if she killed her son. Piper doesn’t know if she should’ve left, but it’s too late to turn back now. Everyone back home probably thinks that they died by now. Everyone back home has probably moved on without her.

“Yeah,” Piper answers, even if it might not be true, “and I’ve met you. You’re my friend.”

Annabeth notes, “My best friend.”

“Yes,” Piper clarifies, “You’re my best friend.”

“Hey look I can see it in the distance!” Grover replies, his excitement seeping through his words.

The thunderous steps echo behind them, ruining any sort of chance of celebration. Annabeth and Piper—who had been holding hands—stiffen. Luke and Thalia turn around, at the ready. Grover stops the ground, kicking up loose dirt, “And we were almost there! We were almost safe!”

“Luke! Grover! Get Piper and Annabeth beyond the walls of camp and don’t come back for me!” Thalia declares, grabbing a knife she’s armed herself with.

“You can’t mean that Thals.” Luke replies, “Whatever’s out there will kill you by yourself.”

“Did I fucking stutter?! GO!”

Grover picks up Piper as she kicks and screams, “NO! THALIA! NO! LET ME GO! LET ME GO! I HAVE TO SAVE HER LET ME GO!” 

Like complies and Thalia turns towards Piper, waving at her, “Be good for me, Pipes. You’re the best sister I’ve ever had.” She turns back around and runs in the direction of the booming storm. Piper can’t see Thalia anymore as Grover runs away. But the monster is in view. Piper watches the cyclops, kicking and screaming until she is brought over the border and sedated by an older camper, not seeing Thalia’s eventual tree transformation.


End file.
